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George V. Dyche and Dyche Valley on Palomar Mountain 


Peter Brueggeman 2025 


Information and photograph sources in this biography are cited except for ancestry.com, familysearch.org, and findagrave.com; therefore, an uncited 
fact or photograph came from those sources. Property records were not researched; the properties noted are listed in the Bureau of Land 
Management’s General Land Office Records database or found in newspaper notices. 


U.S.G.S. topo map for Palomar Observatory quadrangle 


Dyche Valley on Palomar Mountain 1s 
named after George V. Dyche, who 
lived there in the late 1800s. 


Dyche 
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19 


Valley 


George Valentin Dyche (undated photo from Joanna Gunther) 
was born August 23, 1824, in Bath, Virginia, which 
is now known as Berkeley Springs, West Virginia 


[2]: 
Edward Davis writes [1): 


“Dyche was born at Berkeley Springs 
in what is now known as West 
Virginia. He crossed the plains in an 
emigrant wagon during the gold rush 
of 1849 as a youth of eighteen years 
and reached Sacramento. For some 
years he was a clerk in Baker & 
Hamilton’s Bank in Sacramento. He 
later went into the cattle business, 
bought steers for five dollars per head 
and sold them in San Francisco for 
seven and eight dollars a head.” 


Baker & Hamilton was an 
agricultural and mining equipment 
store in Sacramento. In the 


™| 
| 


_ Sacramento Daily Union of August 
21, 1851, G. V. Dyche was among 
several people putting forward a 
candidate for justice of the peace for 
the city of Sacramento [50]. 


In the 1852 U.S. Census for the County of Los Angeles, G.V. Dyche 1s listed as a 28-year-old trader born in 
Virginia and had last lived in Missouri. At that time, Los Angeles County stretched from the coast to the state 
line of Nevada, and the census gave no specific locations for individuals. The census page with Dyche lists 
ranchero as occupation for most of the people on that page, whom one assumes lived in his area. 


Edward Davis writes [1): 


[George Dyche] then worked for Robert Carlisle and John Rains on the Rancho Santa 
Ana del Chino cattle ranch. Young Dyche had an interest in these cattle, some herds 
ranging as far south as Warner Ranch, and so he came here to live. He built a cabin in 


Rincon of Warner Ranch north of the present Henshaw Dam. [PB: Davis identified the ranch 
as the Chino Cattle Ranch and its owners as Bob Carlyle and John Raines. | 


John Rains (1827-1862), undated 


John Rains superintended cattle operations of the Rancho Santa Ana del 
Chino (where George Dyche worked) and in Temecula, and he also worked at 
Butterfield's stage station at Warner's Ranch 13638). Maria Merced 
Williams (1839-1907) and Francisca Williams inherited the Rancho Santa 
Ana del Chino after the death of their father Isaac Williams in September 
1856 [34,36,41). Three days after Isaac Williams’ death, John Rains married 
his elder daughter, Maria Merced, and then several months later, 
Francisca married Robert S. Carlisle (36,41). Immediately after Williams’ 
estate was settled in early 1858, John Rains sold his wife Maria Merced’s 
half-interest in Rancho Santa Ana del Chino to her sister Francisca and 
used the funds to buy Rancho Cucamonga later that year (34,3641). 


In August 1859, George Dyche was elected a delegate for the Rancho del 
Chino precinct at the Democratic Convention in San Bernardino 112). 


In September 1861, John Rains obtained Warner’s ranch through a sheriff’s sale because he had loaned money 
to John J. Warner with the ranch used as collateral [343538], and then George Dyche moved there and worked as 
a stock foreman on the Warner Ranch 133}. 


Edward Davis writes [1): 


In 1861, George Dyche was arrested as a deserter by some Union soldiers and taken to 
Oak Grove for trial. He was found innocent and discharged. He was given a lantern by 
the soldiers to find his way home. This lantern was a cylinder of tin with perforated holes, 
lighted by a candle inside. This was in the family for several years... 


Marion Beckler writes ,9): 


Records show that both (George Dyche) and Joseph Smith served as Judges of the Plains 
in Agua Caliente district in 1862-1863. 


Judges of the plains were the law enforcement officers of the livestock industry 1n each county and had the 
powers of a sheriff. They decided all disputes over ownership of cattle, horses, and other livestock, and attended 
all the yearly roundups and branding of cattle and horses, where their decisions were final, with no appeal. 
Joseph Smith was the first white settler on Palomar Mountain, on land which George Dyche later took over. 


Robert Carlisle, undated 


John Rains and Robert Carlisle were hot-headed and got into financial 
distress and personal enmity ,4,5,6). In later November 1862, John Rains was 
murdered, with Robert Carlisle or Ramon Carillo speculated as involved in 
that killing [4.5,6,38,39,41). 


Robert Carlisle quickly pressured John Rains’ newly widowed wife Maria 
Merced to give him power of attorney over the Rains estate [41]. 


George Dyche lost all his capital with the murder of John Rains (37,38). 


Maria Merced Williams, undated 


One story is that George Dyche was amongst a group of twelve men who 
_# were personal friends of John Rains, and they suspected his wife Maria 
* Merced, of murdering Rains; they assembled at a Cucamonga tavern 
heavily armed, and were having supper, discussing her lynching 

~~ (37,38,39,40]. The tavern owner William Rubottom did not want a lynching of 
~% a woman without a trial and enlisted two friends at the tavern to spoil 
their plot (37,40). After Rubottom served them at a long table, he stood at 
the head of the table with a shotgun pointed at them, called in his two 
similarly armed friends, and disarmed all of them. He told them they 
could come back and get their weapons one at a time later, which they 
did. 


Another story is that friends of John Rains did meet at Rubottom’s tavern, 
but they discussed how to get Maria Merced to pay money due them from 
John Rains 137). George Dyche, Rains’ foreman, was owed money from 
the ranch, and others were perhaps owed money as well since Rains was over-extended and borrowing heavily 
[37]. [he conversation among the men perhaps got heated as they discussed what to do with Maria Merced, and 
someone probably said that they ought to hang her 137). It could have been a flippant remark, taken seriously by 
Rubottom. 


In 1864, two years after John Rains’ death, Ramon Carillo, who was a trusted advisor to Maria Merced, was 
ambushed and killed (4,5,6,41}. 


Robert Carlisle was killed in an 1865 Los Angeles shootout by Frank and Houston King, after he had gotten in a 
heated argument the day before with Andrew King, who was the court-appointed receiver over Maria Merced’s 


property [41}. 


Maria “Mary” Lugo, undated. 


Photo from Joanna Gunther. 


Dating back from the 1870 U.S. Census, 
George V. Dyche married Maria “Mary” 
Lugo around 1864; Maria Lugo was born 
from 1843 to 1850 at the Rincon of 
Warner’s Ranch, and died March 17, 1895, 
in Napa, California [2,45). Maria Lugo’s 

, Indian name was Tamahanish ,45}. 


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Their first-born child Emanuel V. Dyche 
was born February 24, 1865 (2,113. 


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In “Entries in the Great Register, San Diego 
County, California, July 1867,” George V. 
Dyche is listed as a 43-year-old ranchero, 
born in Virginia, and living in San Felipe as 
a ranchero, with date of registration being 
February 20, 1867. 


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A newspaper item in June 1867, notes the names of San Diego county residents contributing to the Southern 
Relief Fund including George V. Dyche for $5; the Southern Relief Fund was for impoverished Confederate 
States [13]. 


After George Dyche had moved away from Warner’s Ranch and was living on Palomar Mountain, he was 
interviewed about Warner’s Ranch in 1869 by Judge Benjamin Hayes, who wrote in correspondence to a 
prospective buyer for Warner’s Ranch as follows [42): 


BENJAMIN HAYES TO DR. JOHN S. GRIFFIN, San Diego, 1869. 


... L will state at once what I know in regard to the qualities of San Jose del Valle 
(Warner’s Rancho). I am the better able to give it a good name from having seen George 
V. Dyche here to-day, who lived on it a long time 1n charge of the Rains stock. ... In 
1860 John Rains put on about 1600 head of stock cattle. In 1865, Dyche accounted to the 
Receiver for over 5000 head, and that after losses by the Indian depredations and partially 
by the drought of 1863-64. ... 


GEORGE DYCHE MOVES TO PALOMAR MOUNTAIN 


An item in a “Letter from San Diego. [From Our Own Correspondent. |,” published in the San Francisco 
Evening Bulletin dated May 26, 1868, stated ,22): 


The citizens here were very much excited last week by learning that Joseph Smith, 
known everywhere as “Long Joe Smith,” had been assassinated at his ranch “Palomar.” It 
seems an Englishman, whose name I did not learn, for some reason unknown, shot Smith 
dead while working at a bench. The Englishman then started for another place to bring 
some wine Smith had contracted for, leaving the latter as he fell. On his return he found a 
number of neighbors at the house, and being asked what had become of Joe, he gave no 
satisfactory answer, but finally, on being accused of murdering Smith, whose body had 
been found before the murderer returned, he confessed the deed. Quite a sum of money 
was found in the house untouched, so it is not known whether poor Joe was killed for 
money or not. Next morning the murderer was found hung to a tree 1n the neighborhood. 


A news article appeared in the Stockton Daily Evening Herald on June 1, 1868, giving more 
specific information on Smith’s murder and murderer 23): 


MURDERD — THE MURDERER HUNG BY A VIGILANCE COMMITTEE — 
A correspondent of the S.F. Times, writing from San Diego, Cal., May 22™) says: 


On Thursday morning last, May 14", Mr. Joseph Smith, one of the oldest residents of this 
county, was found murdered by being shot twice — once through the head and once 
through the body — with a large sized Colt’s revolver, by Robert Mitchell O’Brien, a 
deserter of the 14° United States Infantry, who has been to work for him some two or 
three months. O’Brien was arrested the following day, examined by the people of the 
neighborhood, who formed themselves into a Vigilance Committee, tried him, and found 
him guilty, and hung him on the nearest suitable tree. O’ Brien confessed that he killed 
Smith, and said repeatedly before he was executed, that he would do the same to any one 
that talked to him as Smith did before he shot him. Smith was one of our best citizens, a 
truly good man, and his loss will be universally regretted by every one in the county. He 
was about fifty years of age, and unmarried; leaves a fine property, and has no heirs or 
relations in this part of the State. 


George Dyche’s time on Palomar Mountain begins shortly after the death of Joseph Smith. Edward Davis writes 
[1]: 


To the best of my information, Joseph Smith was the first white man to build a house and 
live permanently on the top of Palomar Mountain. ... Joseph Smith was six feet, four 
inches tall, and the Indians called him “Jose Largo.” “Long Joe Smith.” When he settled 
on Palomar, in about 1852, he owned horses, mules, cattle and hogs. ... His home was 
located on the north side of what was later known as the Dyche Valley. This valley and 
surrounding hills were used exclusively by the La Joya Indians for untold generations for 
harvesting acorns and hunting deer, and they named it “We-a -ma,” meaning “Burden 
basket.” This is the third valley through which the road from Henshaw Dam passes. It is a 
broad, open valley surrounded by oak and pine-clad hills. The grass in the valley is sub- 
irrigated and is always lush and green - fine feed for stock cattle. 


The house was situated on rising ground and commanded a fine view of the whole valley. 
His house was built of adobe bricks and hewed timbers and roofed with split cedar shakes 
and, as was the universal custom featured a large stone fireplace at one end of a large 
living room. No doubt Smith, with the assistance of a few Indians with whom he lived on 
friendly terms, did all the construction work, as he was a fine mechanic and very handy 
with tools. 


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Joseph Smith house, later occupied by George Dyc 


Will Dyche, who lived in this house for many years with his father George Dyche, said 
Smith was a very fine craftsman and from the forest growth, he whip-sawed and cut the 
rough timber and fashioned it into beautiful finished tables, stands, chairs, bedsteads, etc. 
He made all his bee stands out of virgin timber and filled them with wild swarms from 
hollow oaks nearby. He repaired his wagons and tools with strong-grained native oak, 
which grew in abundance all over the mountain. 


Smith raised hogs as his principal industry and these hogs ranged the country, feeding on 
acorns and growing fat on the grain he grew in the valley. He had several Indians 
working for him during planting and harvest, and it was his custom to pay them every 
week. ... He was unmarried. ... On one of his trips to Kimble’s store for supplies, he met 
a young man whose name cannot be recalled. This adobe store was located on Warner 
Ranch, one and a half miles east of the old ranch house and was later operated by Henry 
Wilson... [PB: Kimble store was built by Cyrus Kimble in 1862. Kimble was murdered in 1865, and 
Henry Wilson took over the store in 1866.] The young man was poor, bare-footed, and in rags, 
and was looking for work, so Smith befriended him and took him to Palomar and made 
him feel at home. He was said to be a deserter from the army. He performed odd jobs and 
became familiar with Smith’s habits; particularly, he managed to be near when Smith 
paid off his Indian laborers, hoping to see where his benefactor had secreted his money. 


One day, after the young fellow had been there a month or two, while Smith was busy 
repairing a bee hive on the porch with his back to the house, the young man he had 
befriended shot and killed him with Smith’s own gun, shooting through the open window 
from the room inside. After making a hasty and fruitless search for Smith’s hidden 
money, he made his escape on one of the mules, going down the old Indian trail to La 
Joya. He led a horse packed with two empty kegs. Francesca Maxey, an Indian woman 
who was Smith’s cook, had left that morning to visit her folks at La Joya. On the way 
down the trail, he passed Francesca and she asked him where he was going. He said 
Smith sent him to get some wine. Mateo Subish, an Indian from La Joya, rode up to the 
Smith house that morning and saw the body lying on the porch under a tarpaulin, with 
feet protruding. Mateo was prevented from making a closer examination by Smith’s dogs 
who stood guard over the body and permitted no one to approach. Mateo immediately 
rode off the east end of the mountain to the Rincon of Warner Ranch and notified George 
Dyche, who immediately notified the store. 


Word even in that early day spread like wild fire, and that night forty determined men 
gathered at the Smith house -- from Julian, Mesa Grande, Ballena, Warner’s and all 
settlers’ homes. They sent for Francesca, and she told about seeing the man and gave all 
the information she knew. These men immediately organized a searching party. Smith 
was a well-known man throughout the mountains and these men were a grim, determined 
crowd composed of miners, cattlemen, cowboys, freighters and ranchers. Two men were 
chosen to track the murderer down and bring him back. He left a plain trail and several 
Indians who had seen him pass told his pursuers. They, without loss of time, went to the 
Maxey place, at the far end of the Gueyito ranch, and there captured their man. They tied 
him to his mule and brought him back to the Smith house. Of course, all this took time, as 
all travel was on horseback. They pulled the canvas from the body and asked if he knew 
him. He said “yes,” but said he did not know who killed him. They said they would soon 
find out, so they looped a reata around his neck, threw the end over a limb near the house 
and pulled him up, then lowered him, but he still declared his innocence. [PB: a reata is a 
long noosed rope to catch animals, a lariat or lasso.] A second time he was pulled up and lowered. 
Three times he was pulled up, and then he made a full confession. They put chains on 
him, placed him on a horse and rode him down to Kimble’s store. By that time seventy- 
five men had collected, and they immediately organized a vigilante court and had a trial. 
The fellow made a full confession and he was condemned to death. He was taken to a live 
oak tree at the foot of the hills convenient to the store, a noose was fitted around his neck, 
the other end was cast over a limb, and twenty -five men pulled him up, tied the end of 
the reata and left him. Old Fred Scholder of Mesa Grande, Nate Harrison, George Dyche 
and many well-known old timers bore a hand. When the crowd returned to the store, they 
held a big celebration, whiskey flowed freely all night with whooping, yelling, and 
shooting. A general good time was enjoyed by all. 


Edward Davis writes [1): 


... Smith having no heirs, his property reverted to the Public Administrator, who sold it 
to Wolfskill, who in turn sold it to George Dyche for what he paid for it. Dyche also 
came into possession of the hogs and cattle formerly belonging to Smith, and the valley 
thereafter was known as the “Dyche Valley,” for many years Dyche and his family 
occupied the Smith house. 


Ephraim W. Morse, undated 


By July 1868, the Public Administrator of Joseph Smith’s estate was 
Ephraim W. Morse, who was Smith’s business partner on the Palomar 
land, both being listed at the same location as farmers (along with the 
hired help) in the Agua Caliente township on the 1860 U.S. Census 
[31,32]. By the time of Morse’s death, he was known as a retail merchant, 
banker, and realtor in the City of San Diego, and in earlier years, had 
been engaged with Joseph Smith in sheep farming on one hundred acres 
of land with 3,000 sheep and 100 head of cattle (32). 


William Wolfskill, September 27, 1866 


William Wolfskill purchased the Joseph Smith property for the 
livestock and squatter’s rights, intending to put his son John on it 
[33]. However, his son John would not live there, so William 
Wolfskill sold it to George Dyche 133}. 


In 1868, the three Wolfskill brothers, John, Josiah, and Matthew, 
and Edward McGeary purchased Rancho Rincon del Diablo, 
where Escondido is located today [30,33]. 


Tue Onty Known PuorocrarH or WiLtiAM Wo FskILL 
Taken by Henri Penelon, Los Angeles, September 27, 1866. 


Courtesy of John C. Wolfskill. 


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section of 1880 U.S. survey map showing Dyche’s house (formerly Joseph Smith’s) at middle far left 
Township 10S, Range 2E, San Bernardino Meridian. U.S. Surveyor General's Office, 1880 


Edward Davis writes [1): 


George Dyche had been living in the Rincon of Warner Ranch where it cuts a deep “V” 
into the east end of Palomar, but on acquiring the Smith holdings in about 1869, he 
moved his family, horses, cattle and household goods up on Smith Mountain, as it was 
then known, and occupied the Smith house during the remainder of his life 


Like many of the early pioneers, on account of the lack of white women, George Dyche 
married a very attractive Indian maiden from the Cahuilla tribe in southern California, 
whose family name was Lugo. From this union, he raised two boys and two girls .... 
George Dyche came into possession of Smith’s cattle, sheep, and hogs when he bought 
the Smith ranch. In the valley he raised wheat, which he had the Indians thresh and clean 
and then loaded in two wagons, which they drove to Colton, where it was ground into 
flour. He had six oxen to a wagon. These oxen were bought from emigrants who had 
crossed the plains, so all plowing and hauling was done by these patient animals. Dyche 
would kill fifty or more hogs in a season, cure them into bacon and hams, and haul them 
by oxen to Old Town (North San Diego), where they would be sold. ... George Dyche 
was always on friendly relations with the Indians, ... 


In the 1870 U.S. Census amongst inhabitants of Warner’s Rancho District in the County of San Diego, 
enumerated on July 14, 1870, 46-year-old George Dyche 1s listed with occupation farmer, along with his wife 
Maria (age 20, born in California and whose occupation is keeping house), Manuel (age 4), Boy (age 2) and Louisa (age 1). 
His wife Maria was named Maria “Mary” Lugo (born from 1843 to 1850 at Rincon of Warner’s Ranch, and died March 
17, 1895, in Napa, California, where she is buried) ;2]. Manuel’s name is Emanuel V. Dyche on his gravestone (born 
February 24, 1865, and died May 8, 1937). “Boy” is William Van Dyche (born 1868 and died 1948). “Louisa” is their 
daughter Frances, who is Frances Virginia Dyche LaRue (born March 21, 1869, and died March 8, 1963). 


In that 1870 U.S. Census, George Dyche’s real estate value is $1200, and his personal estate value is $1900. 
The 1870 U.S. Census’ Schedule 3—Productions of Agriculture in Warners Rancho and enumerated August 2- 
3, 1870, has George Dyche listed with the following: 


100 acres of improved land 
0 acres of wood-land 
220 acres of other unimproved land 


$1,000 present cash value of farm 
$50 present cash value of farming implements and machinery 
$1,200 total amount of wages paid during the year, including value of board 


25 horses 

82 cattle 

20 pigs 

$1,700 value of all livestock 


500 bushels of winter wheat produced during the year 
4 bushels of rye produced during the year 

10 bushels of oats produced during the year 

60 bushels of barley produced during the year 


In October 1869, George Dyke attended a meeting of the Democratic County Committee of the County of San 
Diego as a committee member [56]. In May 1871, George V. Dyke was listed as a member of the Democratic 
County Committee of San Diego County [55]. At a meeting of the Democratic Central Committee on June 3, 
1871, member George Dyche was 1n attendance by proxy of William Wolfskill, and George Dyche and two 
others were named judges for the primary election of delegates for Brady’s precinct with voting at Dr. 
Dawson’s, for the upcoming San Diego County Convention [14). 


The San Diego Union published this item on George Dyche on June 24, 1873 [47): 


RUNAWAY. - A team belonging to Geo. V. Dyke, of Smith’s Mountain, having become 
surfeited with the “poetic air” of this city and thirsting for glorious liberty, dashed down 
Sixth street on its own account yesterday morning. It brought up quite suddenly at A. 
Pauly’s buggy in a very unpoetic manner and wrecking one awning post. The team 
sustained no particular damage. 


In June 1875, George Dyke was listed as a delegate from Agua Caliente for the Democratic County Convention 
[57]. 


In a piece entitled “Scraps from San Diego” published in the Pacific Rural Press of July 12, 1873, Dyche’s 
ranch is described ,48}: 


.. The San Louis Rey river, rises 1n this valley of San Jose, and in the beautiful 
mountain, the Palomar, generally known as Smith’s mountain, there are fine forests, of 
pine, cedar and fir, and Mr. Dyke’s Ranch, a beautiful place, of several hundred acres in 
cultivation, fenced as in Virginia and Kentucky, stake and rider rail fence, ten foot cedar 
rails. ... 


Following Dyche’s purchase of Smith’s land on the north side of Dyche Valley from William Wolfskill in 1869, 
he acquired additional land via homesteading and purchases [1,20,21}. In 1876, George Dyche staked a homestead 
claim to 160.7 acres of Palomar Mountain land, with the U.S. government publishing in the San Diego Union 
five years later on July 15, 1881, that George Dyche had filed his intention to make final proof of a homestead 
claim on Palomar Mountain, with witnesses J. Cook, J. L. McIntier, J. Trujillo, and C. Gunn, all of Warner’s 
Ranch 120,21}. George Dyche also purchased 320 acres of land from the U.S. government in 1889 and 1890 (21). 


A ie ce | 
Outline showing George Dyche’ s combined homestead (1876) and purchased land (1889 and 1890) from the 
U.S. government, which complemented his earlier purchase of Joseph Smith’s land 


The San Diego Daily Union published an article entitled “Snow Storm at Warner’s Ranch” on February 13, 
1876 [53): 


A correspondent of The Union writing from Warner’s Ranch, sends us an interesting 
account of the snow-storm 1n that section about three weeks since. He writes: 


“On the morning of the 20" January it began raining, continuing all day until midnight, 
when it turned to snow, falling very fast. On the morning of the 21“ the snow was six 
inches deep all over the valley. All that day snow continued to fall and at night it was 
from ten to sixteen inches deep over the whole of Warner’s Ranch. On the 22" it is still 
snowing and eighteen inches deep at the Canada Verde. ... From the 24" to the 27" the 
weather was cold and cloudy, with snow falling at intervals. On the morning of the 28" 
the weather cleared. All looks prosperous now; but the people owning stock in this part of 
the country have suffered loss. Horses, cattle, sheep and hogs have perished in the storm. 
The extent of the damage as yet is not known, but it must be considerable. There was but 
little grass when the storm began, and that little was completely covered up by the snow 
from the 20" to the 28". The meagre subsistence that the stock could gather by nibbling 
the brush was all they had during that time. I saw George Dyche, of Smith’s Mountain, 
yesterday, and he informed me that he had lost a great many horses and cattle; he 1s not 
able to tell how many was yet, though the number is certainly large. He says the snow 
will average three feet deep in that locality. Nothing like this storm has been known in 
these mountains since 1866.” 


A news story mentioning George Dyche was published in the San Diego Union on March 11, 1877 118}: 
A NEAT CAPTURE — TWO ESCAPED CONVICTS TAKEN 


The readers of The Union will remember that a few days ago we chronicled the fact that 
Sheriff Coyne was on the track of a couple of escaped convicts from San Bernardino, and 
expected to get them. When Joe Coyne and Ned Bushyhead go after these gentry, they 
generally do get them, -- as they did on this occasion. 


Two of the most desperate ruffians in the country, who had been brought down to San 
Bernardino from the State Prison, as we understand to testify in some case, broke jail 
there two or three weeks ago and set out on their way to Lower California, through this 
county, robbing as they went. They first raided George Dyche’s place on Smith’s 
Mountain, where they got a Henry rifle and six-shooter; then they came on to Bear Valley 
[PB: Valley Center] and robbed a sheep camp; next, they robbed Sikes’ house at 
Bernardo; then they came on down through Poway past El Cajon, and reached the Otay 
on Sunday last, where they robbed some Frenchmen, and then made their way across the 
line into the Frontier of Lower California. 


Meanwhile intelligence of the escape and of the robberies in the northern part of the 
county had been received at the Sheriff’s office, and arrangements were promptly made 
to effect their capture, if it was a possible thing. We are not at liberty to mention certain 
details of the plan; that it resulted in entire success is enough. Coyne dropped down to the 
line on Wednesday and ascertained that his men were on the other side of Wild Cat 
Station. They had information direct from the robbers’ camp. On Thursday night, the two 
villains arranged a plan to come up and rob Lane’s store in Tia Juana Valley, on this side 
of the line. Their conversation was fully overhead; and it was diabolical enough to make 
the blood chill. They proposed to surprise Lane and tie him up, and then make him tell 
them where his money, etc., was by applying slow torture in the shape of a lighted candle 


to his bare feet, puncturing his flesh with the point of a knife, etc. Lane was posted, and 
all was in readiness for business on Friday but it was subsequently found that the plan 
had been changed, and that the store was to be robbed on Saturday evening. 


Yesterday morning Sheriff Coyne and Deputy Sheriff Bushyhead got into their buggies 
and drove down to the Tia Juana; putting their teams up at Dranga’s, they footed it over 
to Lane’s and there made themselves comfortable in a place where they could see and not 
be seen. The time passed slowly on. At last, a little after five o’clock in the evening, 
along came the two gentlemen and walked boldly up to the house. Both were heavily 
armed, each having a Henry 16-shooting rifle, six-shooter, and knife. Entering the store, 
they called for liquor and drank, and then began to look around the premises, pretending 
to buy provisions, and talking about prices. They said they wanted barley, and asked 
Lane to step outside and show them some — exchanging glances as they went to the door. 
They little knew that Ned Bushyhead’s keen eyes were following their every movement. 
Lane accompanied the scoundrels, who placed themselves on each side of him — and then 
Bushyhead and Coyne softly crawled out. The robbers were closing up on Lane, when 
they suddenly stopped. The biggest one looked around and looked right into the muzzle 
of New Bushyhead’s long revolver. Joe Coyne had the other one similarly covered. The 
game was up. They only said: “You played it mighty fine on us; we’re sold!” The 
handcuffs were promptly applied, and in a few minutes Coyne and Bushyhead were 
spinning along homeward, each with his prisoner by his side. They got in and locked 
their men up about half past eight last evening. 


The San Diego Union had a news item on May 18, 1878, about a death on George Dyche’s ranch 119): 


A very sad accident occurred at the ranch of George Dyche, on Smith’s Mountain, on 
Thursday night. Mr. Clark Swift swallowed by mistake a fatal dose of strychnine, dying 
in a terribly short time. The particulars, as we learn them from his brother, Mr. E. Swift, 
are as follows: The brothers who carried on a ranch together in Bear Valley [PB: Valley 
Center], used strychnine (as all farmers do) to destroy gophers and other vermin. Clark 
Swift was in the habit of taking homeopathic medicines, and carried small phials in his 
vest pocket. A short time ago they pulverized some strychnine and put it in one of the 
empty homeopathic phials for convenience, so that in going around the place, whenever 
they found a gopher’s hole they could drop the poison in. About a week ago Clark Swift 
left the ranch for Smith’s Mountain, to do some carpenter work for Mr. Dyche. He took 
with him a vest which had in one of the pockets this phial of strychnine. It seems that on 
Thursday evening he felt unwell and took a dose of medicine from this phial. Spasms 
almost immediately ensured. Mr. Swift at once understood the situation, and told those 
around him of his fearful mistake; but there was no antidote at hand, and in a few minutes 
he ceased to breathe. 


Edward Davis writes [1): 


One time, on his way home with friends from an Indian Fiesta at La Joya or Rincon, 
George Dyche got to quarreling with Chat Helm of Warner Ranch. Both were pretty well 
tanked up with rot-gut and they agreed to shoot it out next morning. Foreman Charley 
McGary and another cow puncher from Warner Ranch egged them on and then, when 
they were asleep, found their guns, removed the bullets from the cartridges, loaded their 
revolvers with blanks, and then carefully replaced them. In the morning, in true Western 
style, they stepped off ten paces, stood up, and at the word, pugged away at each other 
until their guns were empty, with no results. McGary and his companion had the time of 
their lives over the joke played on these old timers. “What in Hell’s the matter with me?” 


said Dyche: “Guess I can shoot straight when I’m drunk.” So they shook hands and let it 
go at that. 


In the 1880 U.S. Census amongst inhabitants of Agua Caliente Township in the County of San Diego, 
enumerated on June 18-19, 1880, George V. Dyche is listed as a farmer, with wife Maria (age 41), sons Manuell 
(age 14) and William (age 13), and daughters Frances (age 11) and Mary (age 8). Their children are all noted as 
attending school. Manuell’s name is Emanuel V. Dyche on his gravestone (born February 24, 1865m and died May 8, 
1937). William is William Van Dyche (born 1868m and died 1948). Daughter Frances is Frances Virgina Dyche 
LaRue (born March 21, 1869, and died March 8, 1963). Daughter Mary is Mary Ellen Dyche Damron (born May 8, 
1872m and died June 2, 1942). 


In that 1880 census, Dyche’s agricultural production is recorded: 


50 acres of tilled land 
270 acres of unimproved land 


$1000 farm value 
$1527 livestock value 


$100 paid in wages for farm labor including value of board 
$586 estimated value of all farm productions for 1879 


20 acres of mown grassland 
270 acres of not mown grassland 


30 acres of wheat producing 103 bushels 
20 tons of hay harvested 


20 horses 
4 mules 
58 cattle 


Edward Davis writes /1): 


Once a tough hombre, named Slankert, and Dick Culp, his brother-in-law from 
Temecula, drove forty head of fine saddle horses up to the Dyche ranch and put them in 
the fenced pasture, telling Dyche they had bought the horses and were driving them to 
Arizona to sell. They slept in the barn and early next morning they ran the horses off the 
mountain and took them to Arizona and Sonora and sold them. In a few days, Mr. Pryor, 
the owner of these horses, came to the Dyche ranch and said forty head of his fine saddle 
horses had been stolen from his ranch at San Juan Capistrano, by Slankert and Culp, and 
he had tracked the band this far. He was too late to catch the horse thieves, so he offered 
a reward, but nothing came of it. This same Slankert later became a deputy sheriff in 
Yuma and was the same one who shot and killed young Frank Fox at the Carriso stage 
station, a piece of plain murder. Frank was only sixteen years old and was accused of 
being one of a gang of horse thieves in Arizona and so, this old-time, dyed-in-the-wool 
horse thief, risen to the dignity of a Deputy Sheriff with a badge, shot this boy as he was 
going for water. He accused him of trying to escape. 


Slankert killed Fox on April 1, 1890, so Dyche’s interaction with Slankert is long before 1890 ,7,3}. Deputy 
Sheriff Slankert 1s named John Slankard in another source. Deputy Sheriff John Slankard killed Frank Fox at 
Carrizo Creek on April 1, 1890, while Fox was trying to escape arrest. Ed H. Vail led a cattle drive from the 


Vails’ Empire Ranch east of Tucson to their Warners Ranch. Will and Frank Fox joined the Vail cattle drive 
under false names, after stealing horses in Arizona. Sheriff John Gray, deputy sheriff John Slankard and others 
met up with the cattle drive undercover, and as they were arresting the Fox brothers, Frank Fox ran off 
unarmed, going nowhere in the desert with Slankard in close pursuit. Slankard shot him needlessly in the back. 


The San Diego Union had published this item on April 29, 1881 [49): 


Mr. T. Verlaque returned yesterday from a ten days’ hunting excursion in the vicinity of 
Smith’s Mountain. He won’t talk “mines,” but says there are lots of pigeons and small 
game thereabouts and he killed his share. Stock looks fine. It is a fine growing season. 
Grass is high, rich and plenty. The weather is cool yet, and the sheep men are yet in the 
warmer sections. He visited Mr. Mendenhall and Mr. Dyche. They both have good places 
and can entertain “an angel unawares” in excellent style. 


Edward Davis writes [1): 


One time, about 1881, when George Dyche was on his way home with a team and 
wagon, he met a man at the San Luis Rey River, at the foot of the slide grade up Palomar 
Mountain. He had on only a shirt, overalls and shoes, no coat and no hat, but a luxuriant 
growth of black whiskers reaching well down on his breast. 


ey 


od 


George Doane Robert Asher photo 


This man proved to be George Doane, on foot, leading his horse, to look up vacant land 
to settle on and make his home. George Dyche, always hospitable, invited Doane to come 
up with him, so together they drove up the steep slide road, resting the horses many times 
before the top was reached. The weather grew rainy, cold and chilling, and by the time 
they reached the house Doane was shivering, and water was running off forming pools 
where he stood. Will Dyche, then a boy, recalls how Doane stood in front of the roaring 
blaze in the big fire place, his thick whiskers matted together with water drizzling from 


the points. His whiskers were so wet he wrung them out like a wet garment in a wash tub. 
He took both hands and twisted them, leaning over so the water would drizzle on the 
hearth. He kept turning around to get dried out, first on one side and then on the other and 
as his heavy whiskers dried, they spread fan-wise over his broad chest. About this time 
dinner was announced and Doane sat down to a feast. He ate like one starved: raised 
biscuits two bites and down, one after another, meat and potatoes the same, until he was 
filled up, and then he sat back in his chair and fell asleep. This was George Doane’s 
introduction to Palomar Mountain. It seems he came from Valley Center to Mesa Grande 
on horse-back, stayed at the Angel Ranch and was on his way to Palomar when he met 
Dyche. Doane went to the Mendenhall ranch and saw John Place, who directed him to 
what later became Doane Valley. ... 


The San Diego Sun wrote about May Day 1882 celebrations in “Notes From Bear Valley” (Bear Valley is an earlier 
name for Valley Center) [58]: 


On Smith’s mountain they had a gala time, concluding with a dance in the evening at the 
residence of Dave Warren, and another at the residence of Geo. V. Dyche, at which 
several of our Bear Valley people attended and had a general good time, the festivities 
being continued all night. 


In 1883, a brief note was published in the San Diego Union mentioning George Dyche ,24): 


Sheriff Coyne returned from the Smith Mountain region last night. Plenty of snow and 
ice there. Geo. Dyche has some very fine fat cattle. 


Later in 1883, the San Diego Union noted (25): 


The Fourth was duly observed at Smith’s Mountain, by a picnic and a dance at George V. 
Dyche’s residence. About fifty persons were present. 


Marion Beckler writes ,9): 


When George Dyche’s children and the children of Joe Damron arrived at school age 
they made the required number for the opening of school [PB: Beckler spells it Dameron]. So 
the Malava School District was formed, a log schoolhouse was built, and Mr. Snow of 
Love Valley was hired as teacher. But, prior to the establishment of this public school, 
the residents had looked out for the education of their children. The Malava School, built 
in the 1870s, was east of Mendenhall Valley and northeast of Dyche Valley. The original 
log building was moved to make an addition to the George Cook home and a new 
schoolhouse was built. Lumber for 1t was hauled up Smith's road -- dubbed "The Slide" -- 
by George and Hiram Cook. At that time the attendance averaged nine or ten children. 
There were the older Mendenhall children, the Frazier boys, Charles and Manning, Ida 
and Susie Cook, Emma Barker, and Emanuel Dyche [PB: Beckler has his name as Manuel]. ... 
The adobe house built by Joseph Smith, in which the Dyche family lived, had a large 
living-room about eighteen by thirty feet, and in it the people of the mountain enjoyed 
many dancing parties. 


In a 1937 oral history about the Malava school, neighbor Winbert C. Fink said [52): 
... The first school house was built on the George Dyche place, formerly the Joseph 


Smith ranch. The elder people who knew the interesting history of Smith or Palomar 
mountain and who thought that Joseph Smith, pioneer, should be honored, wanted the 


name of the school district to be Smith; but the young people, and there were a good 
many of them, thought Malava the better, more poetic and more romantic name. ... For 
many years the Malava school continued: the Dyche, Cooke and Place families 
furnishing a large number of pupils. The first schoolhouse was made of logs with a 
puncheon floor (split logs, with the flat side up — a very rough and uneven surface). The 
roof was made of cedar shakes (long, thin slabs roughly shaped with an ax or adze) There 
were four big children in the Dyche family, where the first teacher boarded, so the 
schoolhouse also served as the teacher’s sleeping quarters. One of the first teachers was 
Mrs. Amy C. V. Schaeggs, whose pen name was Stanley J. Fitzpatrick. While teaching as 
Malava she took up a pre-emption claim and free homestead on the mountain and later 
added more land to her holdings by means of purchase. She died at the Theosophical 
headquarters on Point Loma. Another teacher of those early days was a Mr. Ferris, father 
of the druggists whose store at the corner of Market St. and Fifth Ave. long has been a 
familiar landmark. This log schoolhouse was later replaced by one built of sawed lumber. 
Other schoolhouses took the place of these pioneer buildings and in later years, there not 
being enough pupils to keep a school going, the district was attached to the Palomar 
school district. The old schoolhouse was sold and torn down and the name disappeared 
from all reports official and otherwise. However, there are many still living in San Diego 
county who will remember old Malava school and the warm spring after which it was 
named. This spring is in Mendenhall valley, a little east of the Mendenhall Co.’s ranch 
house, where on a grassy slope nearby one may enjoy a grand view of mountain peaks 
and upland meadows. ...”’ [PB: Fink interview has her name as Amy Schaggs] 


Marion Beckler writes ,9): 


Charles Kelly, San Diego County pioneer, says he once saw George Dyche and 
remembers him well because of his picturesque garb, for on that occasion he was dressed 
in deer skin, even to the fringe on his trousers. 


The San Diego Union published this humorous item on George Dyche in March 1884 [51): 


George Dyche, one of the “oldest inhabitants,” is in from his ranch on Smith’s Mountain. 
George says he walked in, but as he is a great joker, we guess he was trying to give us a 
“Fl.” 


The San Diego Sun published this item on George Dyche in August 1884 [59]: 


Geo. V. Dyche of Smith’s Mountain, accompanied by his son, Will V. Dyche, a good 
looking young man of nineteen summers, 1s 1n town. This 1s the second time that Will 
was ever in town, and his father took him to see all the sights. 


The National City Record newspaper published an “Official Delinquent Tax List of the County of San Diego 
for the Fiscal Year 1884-5” [26], which listed George Dyche’s delinquent taxable property in the Agua Caliente 
road district and the Malava school district, as follows: 


320 acres with $550 valuation and taxes owed $10.72 


Watch $10 valuation, furniture $10 valuation, fire arms $15 valuation, sewing machine 
$10, farm utensils $10, wagon $60, harness $10, 5 horses $150, 5 Spanish horses $100, 
15 colts $150, 50 cattle $50, 1 dozen poultry $3, 1 mule $25, 5 hogs $5, 50 bee hives $63, 
with total valuation of $1,471 and taxes owed $26.51 


~~. i een eer ee er eee OO ee 


George vs Dyche signature on a Malava School document at the San Diego History Center 


In 1886, George Dyche’s son Emanuel V. Dyche staked a homestead claim to 160 acres of Palomar Mountain 
land, with the U.S. government granting him that homestead claim five years later on April 15, 1891 (21). 


nad 
ee BON 4b * 


hae i A oe 


Emanuel v. Dyche’s homestead land on Palomar Mountain, i 
complementing his father George’s land to the left of his land 


In late 1886, a note appeared in the “San Diego City and Vicinity” section of the San Diego Union that George 
Dyche had a bit too much to drink (27): 


George Dyche was brought to the jail in a very dilapidated and drunk condition. A bad 
bruise on the face showed where the ground had come up and hit him, and his general 
appearance betokened a long tear. 


In September 1889, the Daily San Diegan published a county travel story [11): 
Turning now to the west and ascending a heavy grade, the thrifty settlement of Smith 


Mountain is reached. Three owners here, Messrs. Cook, Dinwiddie and Dyche, have 
severally 200, 100 and 100 cattle each. 


In the Great Register of San Diego County for 1890, with an enumeration date of July 7, 1888, George V. 
Dyche is listed as a farmer on Smith Mountain, which was Palomar Mountain’s name at that time. 


4 i “ _ _ a, Tat; - % x | ' 

section of 1890 map showing Dyche’s house at upper middle 

Official map of San Diego County, California: compiled from latest official maps of U.S. surveys, railroad and irrigation surveys, county records, and other reliable 
sources. Thomas Dykes Beasley, 1890 


al 


In the Daily San Diegan newspaper in March 1890, George Dyche is quoted 13): 


George V. Dyche, an old-timer, wishes it understood that as early as 1868 he raised on 

Palomar mountain 80,000 pounds of grain, 40,000 pounds of which were consumed on 
his own ranch and the balance hauled below. This alone makes twenty loads, one ton to 
the load. 


In the "Transactions of the Twenty-second District Agricultural Association for the year 1890, Composed of the 
County of San Diego," under "Premiums Awarded for 1890, in the Second Department, Fruits," George Dyche 
of Palomar won prizes of $1 for a plate of Carthouse pears and $1 for a plate of apples [43). 


In the Great Register of San Diego County for 1892, with enumeration dates in August and September of 1892, 
George V. Dyche is listed as a farmer on Smith Mountain, and Emanuel V. Dyche, age 26, 1s listed as a rancher, 
and William V. Dyche, age 23, is listed as a farmer, both on Smith Mountain. 


George Dyche Leaves Palomar Mountain 


On February 11, 1892, the San Diego Union published in its real estate transactions that George V. Dyche had 
sold his land to Enos T. Mendenhall for $2,760 [28}. More information was published as a news item in that 
same issue [29): 


E. T. and Sylvester Mendenhall of Palomar Mountain have just purchased the lands of George V. 
Dyche, Milton V. Damron and Roy Johnson on said mountain, about 720 acres in all. This gives 
the Mendenhalls over 6,000 acres up there. They have 500 head of cattle and 30 head of horses 
and mules and evidently intend to branch out still further in the stock business. — Escondido 
Times [PB: Misspelled as Damaron in the newspaper] 


In the Great Register of San Diego County for 1894, with enumeration dates in July, August and October of 
1894, George V. Dyche is listed as a rancher in Mesa Grande, Emanuel V. Dyche 1s listed as a farmer in Mesa 
Grande, and William V. Dyche, is listed as a laborer in Mesa Grande. 


George V. Dyche’s wife Maria “Mary” Lugo died March 17, 1895, in Napa, California, perhaps at the Napa 
Asylum for the Insane, now known as Napa State Hospital 2,44). At that time in California, harmless demented 
people were commonly institutionalized, with a state report in 1892 stating that "four fifths of the reputed 
insane of California were inmates of asylums, and only 16 1/2 per cent were maintained at home.” (46). 


In the Directory of San Diego City and County for 1897, published by Olmsted Company in San Diego in 1897, 
people listed for Mesa Grande include George V. Dyche, retired, along with William V. Dyche, laborer, and 
Miss Francis Dyche. 


In the San Diego City and County Directory For 1899-1900, published by Fisher Ward and Pomeroy, in San 
Diego in 1899, people listed for Mesa Grande include George V. Dyche, retired, along with William V. Dyche, 
laborer. 


In the 1900 Census enumerated on June 9, 1900, for the First Ward of the City of San Diego, at the County 
Hospital and Poor Farm, George V. Dyche 1s listed as an inmate. At that time, the San Diego County Hospital 
and Poor Farm was located on the south side of Mission Valley where the current 163 freeway crosses ,10}. The 
San Diego County Hospital and Poor Farm was a safety net for the indigent and offered hospital and health care 
for the sick and injured who had no other means of support 110). Indigent patients were mostly men who had lost 
the ability to provide for themselves and did not have family able to support them; those who were able to work 


did chores within the facility itself or outside on the Poor Farm, which had eight acres of farm and orchard 
producing food for residential needs 110). 


In 1903, in the San Diego City and County Directory, published by the San Diego Directory Company in 1903, 
George V. Dyche is listed as an inmate at the San Diego County Hospital. 


George Dyche died February 18, 1904, and a San Diego newspaper published a notice: [15] 


DEATH OF. PIONEER | 


George v. Dyche. iY elaaene settler ‘of 
this county. died this ‘morning’ in’ this 
city atthe age of 70 years. The remalias, 
are being held ty Johnson: & Connell 
waiting the arrival lof. the relatives. 
frony the sountry where: they. reside. . 

Mr. ‘Dyche had Mve? in San Diexo 
for the past year, He was onc of the 
earllvst. setilerr of this county ,anJ 
lived nione on Smith mountain’ for 
many. years.«-He leaves two sons and 
two daughters; residing. at Mesn Grande 
end Ouk Grove.- at 

otenninnaasanginanigeaicaubeoes 


Ancestors.familysearch.org has information stating that George Dyche is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in San 
Diego, California 2}. That cemetery was dedicated in 1919, which is fifteen years after Dyche died, and a query 
on findagrave.com for George Dyche gravesite location assistance at that cemetery returned a response that the 
“Cemetery office has no record of this person” [2,16,17). Perhaps that cemetery started earlier in some capacity, 
and since Dyche was living at the County Hospital and Poor Farm, perhaps he is buried in a common grave with 
no recorded location. 


An oral history of Winbert C. Fink is entitled “Palomar Memories, William Dyche” and dated May 12, 1937 
[44]. It is mistitled and should be titled “Palomar Memories, George Dyche” since he’s misidentified as William 
in the title and text. In the following text of that oral history, “George” within parentheses is substituted for 
“William”: 


(George) Dyche and his family lived on the Joseph Smith place on Smith Mountain. 
There were four children of that family remaining. (George) Dyche was still living when 
I came in 1895. He died at the County Hospital in Mission Valley. He used to visit the 
neighbors on Smith Mountain when he was an old man and when compelled to do so he 
would talk of the old times. Many a night he sat before the fireplace at William W. 
Jessee’s home and moan while he related some of his early experiences. He was very 
careful not to mention the names of several people whom he spoke of as his enemies. It 
was because of his relationship with the Vigilantes that he was so reticent. He always 
carried his old six-gun although there was never any occasion to use it. (George) Dyche 
was rather small; he had a very dark complexion. He was a Hollander by birth. He 
maintained that his ‘enemies’ would get him one day — meaning that they would kill him. 
His parents were Manhattan people. They moved to West Virginia, a place on the Ohio 
River and there he grew up. That was his story. We understood he was a gambler on the 
Ohio River boats when he got the gold fever and came to the coast by way of Panama. He 
landed at Yerba Buena, ‘San Francisco’, made his way to Sacramento and the gold fields. 
Unable to make a living by labor he began clerking at Sacramento. Before Governor 
Downey’s time the principal owner sent Mr. Dyche to the Warner Ranch as majordomo. 
There are two grants in the Warner’s Ranch but these people only had control of one at 


the time. Mr. Dyche lived there until about 1869 [PB: Fink said 1867]. At that time there was 
a change of ownership on the Warner’s Ranch and he saw he had a good chance to get 
the Smith place on Smith Mountain. It was a squatter’s ranch at that time. It was surveyed 
after Dyche was living on the place. William Wolfskill bought the Smith place 
particularly for the livestock, the squatter’s rights, and for the purpose of putting his son 
John on it. John would not live there so Wolfskill turned it over to Dyche at the same 
price, Dyche giving him his mortgage. Dyche lived there until about 1892 [PB: Fink said 
1893]. He married Maria, an Aqua Caliente Indian, a very fine woman. They always 
claimed she was the best woman on the reservation. She went insane and died 1n the 
Napa insane asylum [PB: Fink said it was at Patton]. She had lost a son by a horse falling on 
him. He was buried at the foot of Smith Mountain, where Henshaw Dam 1s, in an Indian 
cemetery. The cemetery was moved to Mataguay on the John Trainor ranch. There are 
four Dyche children all in San Diego county. Their names are: Manual, William, Frances, 
and Mary. Frances married James La Rue who lives at Oceanside, I think. Mary married 
Milton Damron who also are at Oceanside. Manuel married Ysabel Helm, a daughter of 
Turner Helm and his wife who was an Indian woman. William married a Miss Mitchell 
of Mesa Grande. 


a an eR oe 
FRA teeta ced ee = ee ed 


= 


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= fr ea = =a = ere at 2 : : : 
i . a". 5 Pa 4 LF ie =| 3é - L _ ei . = s, = 
as Sai ee ee! 


Sketch of Joseph Smith / George Dyche house in 1908, by Edward H. Davis [54 


CHILDREN OF GEORGE AND MARY DYCHE 


ee te Me ie ae LO 
Emanuel V. Dyche (left, 39 years old) and Charley Duret 
at Gem Mine near Rincon and Warner’s Ranch, 1904 Edward Davis photo 


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Cemetery 


Santa Ysabel store, 1898. Left to Right: Manuelita la Chusa; Cordelia (Littlepage) Mitchell; Valle Mitchell (on 
barrel); Rena Hoover (later Nolan) by post; Walter Gooley (seated on porch); Mrs. Hoover, Mr. Hoover (owners); Myrtle 
Hoover (later Barnes); Charlie Mugegari; William Van Dyche Postcard spotted by Joanna Gunther at Santa Ysabel store 


William Van Dyche in 1936, at 68 years old 
Edward Davis photo 


William Van Dyche and his wife Dell Mitchell, 1903 wedding photo photo from Joanna Gunther 


Van Dyche, January 11, 1947, at 79 years old 
Ramona 


lam 


Edward Davis photos 


Will 


oo ie 


1 
“eee 


Casner Family Cemetery, 


& 
‘ bs 
Pe ’ ~ 
; eet Vy ‘¢ 


? < 4 : > h ; : (” —. , 
oi) ; . SPs a i.) rs “2 /° . i i” 
; a wie ~ : 


- s 4 


a - 


~ Frances Virginia Dyche La Rue, Forest Lawn Memorial Park 


Mary Ellen Dyche Damron, Forest Lawn Memorial Park 


Thank you to Joanna Dyche Gunther, granddaughter of William Van Dyche, for sharing 
information and photos, and to Elizabeth Warnock 


REFERENCES 


1= Palomar and the Stars. Edward H. Davis. IN: Palomar Mountain Views, Vol. 1. Palomar Mountain, California: Palomar Mountain Views, September 1982. pp.5-68 
archive.org/details/davis-palomar-stars_ 20230205 

2= ancestors.familysearch.org George Dyche genealogies on this site have his middle name as Valentin and Valentine. Valentijn is a Dutch name. Valentin 1s likely his 
middle name. Always as George V. Dyche in various records, George probably didn’t use his middle name since he probably would get teased for it. 

3= Daily San Diegan, March 21, 1890, page 1, column 7 

4= Merced and Francisca Williams of Chino Ranch, Part Two. Paul Spitzzeri. Oct 27, 2018. Champion Newspapers 

www.championnewspapers.com/opinion and commentary/history_of the _hills/article OaSbb06c-d94b-11e8-9713-4f6a9cbe5b12.html 

5= The 1860s: Violence rang out in peaceful Rancho Cucamonga. Nick Cataldo. December 22, 2014. The Sun (San Bernardino, Calif.) 
www.sbsun.com/2014/12/22/the-1860s-violence-rang-out-in-peaceful-rancho-cucamonga/ 

6= The Journal of San Diego History, SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY. Fall 1996, Volume 42, Number 4. 
sandiegohistory.org/journal/1996/october/warners/ 

7= A Desert Cattle Drive of 1890. Phil Brigandi. Desert Tracks, Newsletter of the Southwest Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association, June 2006, pp. 1, 4-7. 
8= The Killing of Frank Fox. David John Taylor www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?catid=60&id=68705 

9= Palomar Mountain: Past and Present. Marion F. Beckler. Palm Desert, California: Desert Magazine, 1958 archive.org/details/beckler_20240126 

10= First Annual Report of the San Diego County Hospital and Poor Farm to the Board of Supervisors, for the Year ending June 30, 1889. Edited by Michael Kelly, 
M.D. The Journal of San Diego History 48(4), Fall 2002. sandiegohistory.org/journal/2002/october/1889/ 

11= Daily San Diegan, September 30, 1889, page 3, column 3 

12= Los Angeles Star, Volume 9, Number 13, August 6, 1859, page 2, column 4 

13= The Guardian (San Bernardino, California), June 15, 1867, page 2, column 3 


14= San Diego Daily Union, July 14, 1871, page 1, column 3 

15= San Diego Evening Tribune, February 18, 1904, page 6, column 2 

16= Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery & Mausoleum, Our History www.holycrosssd.com/wp/our-history/ 

17= Personal communication with findagrave.com volunteer in response to gravesite photo request, 2022 

18= San Diego Union, March 11, 1877, page 1, column 6 

19= San Diego Union, May 18, 1878, page 1, column 6 

20= San Diego Union, July 15, 1881, page 3, column 5 

21= U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records glorecords.blm.gov/ 

22= Evening Bulletin (San Francisco), July 6, 1868, page 1, column 4 

23= Stockton Daily Evening Herald, June 1, 1868, page 1, column 4 

24= San Diego Union, January 6, 1883, page 3, column 1 

25= San Diego Union, July 11, 1883, page 3, column 1 

26= National City Record, February 7, 1885, Page 4, column 5 

27= San Diego Union, November 12, 1886, page 3, column 2 

28= San Diego Union, February 11, 1892, page 3, column 3 

29= San Diego Union, February 11, 1892, page 5, column 2 

30= Escondido Times Advocate, February 15, 1970, page 47, column 1 

31= San Bernardino Guardian, July 18, 1868, page 3, column 1 

32= The Farmhands Behind the Farmers, Circa 1860. Vincent Nicholas Rossi. San Diego History Seeker, 2017. sandiegohistoryseeker.com/2017/11/13/the-farmhands- 
behind-the-farmers-circa-1860/ 

33= Escondido Times Advocate, February 15, 1970, page 47, column 1 

34= When It Rains, It Pours: A Deed of the Property of John Rains to Merced Williams Rains, 13 March 1863. Paul R. Spitzzeri. The Homestead Blog. 
homesteadmuseum.blog/2018/09/19/when-it-rains-it-pours-a-deed-of-the-property-of-john-rains-to-merced-williams-rains-13-march-1863/ 

35= Los Angeles Daily News, January 30, 1861, page 3, column 2 

36= Curious Cases: The Murder of John Rains, 1862. Paul R. Spitzzer1. Homestead Museum Blog. homesteadmuseum.blog/2017/08/13/__trashed/ 

37= Sheriff Eli M. Smith: Fearless but flawed, part two of two. Richard D. Thompson. City of San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society, Library News, May 2010 
static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/72 1507/1 8438232/1338172060557/Library+News+May+2010.pdf 

38= Black, Esther Boulton. Rancho Cucamonga and Dofia Merced, San Bernardino County Museum Association, Redlands, 

CA, 1975 

39= Esther Boulton Black talk "The Rancho Cucamonga and Dona Merced". Orange County Historical Society. November 11, 1976. 
californiarevealed.org/islandora/object/cavpp%3A 128858 

40= Bell, Horace. On the Old West Coast, William Morrow and Co., New York, 1930 

41= The 1860s: Violence rang out in peaceful Rancho Cucamonga. Nick Cataldo. San Bernardino Sun, December 22, 2014 
www.sbsun.com/2014/12/22/the-1860s-violence-rang-out-in-peaceful-rancho-cucamonga/ 

42= Pioneer notes from the diaries of Judge Benjamin Hayes, 1849-1875. Marjorie Tisdale Wolcott, editor. Los Angeles: McBride Printing Company, 1929. 
www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.026 

43= Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society during the Year 1890. Sacramento: State Office, 1891. page 793 

44= “Palomar Memories, William Dyche,” Winbert C. Fink oral history, May 12, 1937. San Diego History Center. Collection number TMS FINW. “William” should 
be “George” in title and text. 

45= Joanna Dyche Gunther, personal communication, 2022 

46= Biennial report of the trustees and the sixteenth and seventeenth annual reports of the resident physician of the Napa State Asylum for the Insane. 1892 
State Office: Sacramento, 1892. play.google.com/store/books/details?id=utY bGFtXfJOC &rdid=book-ut YbGFtxfJ0C &rdot=1 

47= San Diego Daily Union, June 24, 1873, page 3, column 1 

48= Pacific Rural Press, volume 6, number 2, July 12, 1873, page 22, column 4 

49= San Diego Union, April 29, 1881, page 4, column 3 

50= Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 1, Number 133, August 21, 1851, page 2, column 5 

51= San Diego Union, March 20, 1884, page 4, column 1 

52= San Diego Evening Tribune, July 16, 1937, page 14, column 1 

53= San Diego Daily Union, February 13, 1876, page 3, column 2 

54= Edward H. Davis and the Indians of the Southwest United States and Northwest Mexico. Charles Russell Quinn & Elena Quinn, eds. Downey, CA: Elena Quinn, 
1965 

55= San Diego Daily Union, May 16, 1871, page 3, column 1 

56= San Diego Weekly Bulletin, October 2, 1869, page 3, column 2 

57= San Diego Union, June 9, 1875, page 3, column 2 

58= The Sun (San Diego), May 10, 1882, page 4, column 2 

59= San Diego Sun, August 13, 1884, page 3, column 1